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(Okay, this isn’t really about Mercury Retrograde, even if at the time of this writing, it is actually retrograde.)

Holy hell, Batman. December is wickedly determined to be a memorable month.

• I release the annual Snowflake design, but end up releasing two days late because Lightroom refuses to work. For two days.
  .
• Finally decide to make the shift from metal clay jewelry to 3D designed (CAD) & cast jewelry, having found a printing & casting company that is affordable. It’s an awesome shift, and makes better use of more of my digital skills (I went to school for video game design a while back). It lso and gives me some much needing breathing room in finishing pieces, and allows me to get more of my design ideas actually MADE. Always a plus. But it means a month or more learning the new workflow and program to make it happen. Even with how quickly I can pick things up, this stuff is heavy.
  .
  I’m a little worried about getting the jewelry business back up to speed quickly enough. It’s a needed shift for a whole slew of reasons, including cost and supply issues, but just a couple of months of the jewelry falling behind can make or break our household. It’ll be worth it, I keep telling myself. Now it’s just up to me to prove myself right.
    .
• Patreon decides to restructure their fees and billing, after 5 years of a stable system, which screws over my supporters there. I’m not cool with that – these people are why I get to paint AND eat each month, and I try to take care of them. So, I’m gradually making the switch from Patreon to my own system here, on AbigailMarkov.com. It’ll mean I can add more features, too and go beyond just supporting my art to actually building an art community. Behind the scenes will stay, thank you cards will stay, but a permanent download area and forums will now be possible. Tutorials, possibly, and shop discounts because now Patron Subscriptions will (hopefully) earn Gems, the rewards program I have. This is still a massive, time-consuming undertaking, however worthwhile it will be. I didn’t need to sleep anyway.
  .
• PayPal craps out on me while setting up the Patreon replacement, and so for now, I have to disable PayPal payments. ARG. I have another one, and it’s my favorite, but still. PayPal is popular.

But hey, on the bright sides?

• I get to create an art community, however large or small. One not about making money, but about making art.
• I get to offer more cool things to the people who support *my* work.
• I don’t need to rely on someone else to do business with the best interests of my clients and patrons in mind.
• I get to go back to 3D Modeling.
• I just opened up a whole new slew of design possibilities that were unrealistic to do with metal clay at the production levels I wanted.
• I can retire Satan The Curio from jewelry work. Just painting name plates and fun stuff now. YAS. OMG YAS.
• The Snowflakes were so well received that my kids are TOTALLY getting a Christmas this year that is more than socks and dollar store trinkets. THANK YOU ALL FOR THAT.

Also, we have baby chickens.

It’s hard to be sad or frustrated for very long when you have baby chickens to hold.

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